Battle of Five Armies

"So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves."

So the scene was set for a confrontation between the Wood-elves and Lake-men on the one side, and the Dwarves of Thorin and Dáin on the other. Already the first arrows had been shot when a dark cloud was seen coming out of the north - the bats that heralded the Orc-armies of Bolg. The Elves, Men and Dwarves quickly forgot their differences in the face of this new threat, and battle was joined on the slopes of Erebor and the valley beneath. The battle was ferocious, and as it raged, it was joined by others - Eagles out of the Misty Mountains, and even Beorn himself in the shape of a monstrous bear.

By nightfall the Orcs were defeated, but not without great loss. Thorin himself was slain, making a bold attack against the bodyguard of Bolg, and with him fell his young nephews Fíli and Kíli. Bolg was dead, too, crushed by Beorn, and the Goblins of the northern mountains were scattered or destroyed.

Notes

1

Dates in The Hobbit are rarely given precisely, but we can be fairly sure that the battle took place in mid to late October. We do know that Bilbo and the Dwarves arrived at the Long Lake on 22 September, and that the battle took place three or four weeks after this, in 'the last week of autumn' (The Hobbit 11 On the Doorstep - this presumably refers to the last week of October).